Ballmer and Chambers: No Cisco-Microsoft merger

Interviewer Charlie Rose got directly to the big question this morning at the Cisco-Microsoft event in New York City, pointing out that the companies weren’t announcing a merger. No one was really expecting such an announcement, but the companies were a little vague about the specific impetus for the event, and you never know.

“That, you can count on today,” Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in response, joking that neither he nor Cisco CEO John Chambers is prepared to work for the other.

The executives are talking about the need to collaborate and make their products work together even as they compete in more areas, such as unified corporate communications. Rose is also getting into other issues, such as the role of Google in Internet infrastructure, and whether or not Microsoft weighed the possibility of a Yahoo merger.

The webcast is still going on as of 7:45 a.m., and it’s available here.